I have been a CPA for over 30 years focusing on taxation. I have extensive experience with partnerships, real estate and high net worth individuals.
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Is A Vote For Jill Stein A Vote For Higher Prices At The Pump ?

So, is a vote for Jill Stein a vote for higher prices at the pump ? The short answer is yes. Here is what the Green Party Platform says:

Establish a system of carbon taxes on all fossil fuels, to begin to reflect the real environmental cost of their extraction and use. Carbon taxes should be applied as far upstream as possible, preferably when possession of the carbon-bearing fuel passes from extraction (for example, coal mine; oil wellhead or tanker; gas wellhead) to the next entity in the supply chain (for example, coal shipper or utility; oil refiner or importer; natural gas pipeline). Offset potential regressivity for lower income individuals via the Green Tax shift that lowers income taxes and/or other approaches.

In case you skipped or had trouble with the video, one possible scenario for a carbon tax would be a revenue neutral fee and rebate program. Prices would be higher at the pump and in the multitude of other things that might be affected by a carbon tax but the entire amount, presumably net of some administration costs, would be distributed. If you were a hermit living in a cave and walked to town once a month to pick up your rebate check, you would almost definitely come out ahead. On the other hand there are people like me. When the cost of parking is factored in there is no question that even without the carbon tax it would be economical to take the train into Boston. In the interview, I mentioned my friend Jonathan who always needles me about it. My son interned for him this summer and Jonathan won him over to the train. Still. If the carbon tax was not the proverbial hit over the head with a two by four, I would come out behind. It would be even harder on people who live in less densely populated areas.

Evaluating the winners and losers does not answer whether it is a good idea. There is a saying attributed to Daniel Moynihan – You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts. Of course when it comes to this issue some people have their own facts regardless of their entitlement. Assume for the sake of argument that this whole climate change being associated with burning fossil fuels is not some sort of eco terrorist plot to get us all freezing in the dark. With that assumption, which I acknowledge gives some people heartburn, the carbon tax or something like it makes a lot of sense. The major problem with free markets, which are in many ways wonderful things, is externalities. If there are costs that are not being absorbed by the market participants, free markets produce less than optimal results.

So you think this is some whacky Green idea ? Why don’t you listen to what former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis has to say:

According to him it is a conservative idea. I’m going to have start studying this MBTA map.

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I remember the old fram oil filter commercial, a mechanic looks into the camera and says…”you can pay me now”, cut to a fram oil filter, “or you can pay me later”, cut to a car on the rack having the engine worked on.

I would suggest a dollar for dollar green budget, for every dollar that goes to the military complex budget, another dollar goes towards renewable energy development.

I guess your preview function is a work in progress. After I hit the comment button it shows me what I have written, but does not give me the opportunity to fix any errors I may find, which is what I thought I was doing when I did not click on the “done” button but instead closed the window and went back to edit my comment.

Instead, my comment ended up being submitted three times, the final two times with a new correction added in.

If you think the software is tough on commenters you should try being a contributor. Don’t get me started. Either I am not that awake yet or your errors were very subtle. I hope I have deleted the right ones.

The correct answer is yes, a carbon tax will increase the price of fossil fuels. However, the biggest factors in the price of oil are still supply and demand. Also, speculative investors are affecting the price. It used to be that the oil futures market consisted mainly of end users (refiners/distributors, etc) but now days oil contracts are traded many times before landing in the hands of an end user. These added transactions can and do greatly affect the price.

There is probably no way to entirely remove the volatility in the price of oil. As we are currently seeing in California, unexpected disruptions in the refinery and delivery systems will cause spikes. All the more reason to wean ourselves from this type of fuel. As long as the world is so overly dependent upon fossil fuels, we will be subject to price spikes.

Some people believe and I think with some justification that speculators are actually good for markets. They take on the risk that producers and consumers would rather not have. The ability of producers and consumers to hedge may well be enhance by speculators.

I think your economic theory might be a little off there. Petroleum is an input in making electricity, ethanol and biodiesel and the price of substitutes for a commodity affects the price of the commodity. If all the petroleum in the world instantly vanished I think there would be a serious effect on the prices of the other things.

Peter—–only because WE have made ourselves completely and helplessly dependent on petroleum{with the enthusiatic support of the Petroleum Companies}.

———-” Petroleum is an input in making electricity, ethanol and biodiesel and the price of substitutes for a commodity affects the price of the commodity.”——

We’ve made ethanol and distilled ethanol for over 1,000 years——LONG before petroleum was ever thought of. You do not need petroleum to make ethanol. We can make ethanol from almost anything, corn or other grains(whiskey), sugarcane or sorghum,(rum), agave cactus(tequila)[agave is commonly called a cactus although it is actually a succullent, it still grows in the desert and has a thorny defense that would give a T Rex pause about walking into a field full of agave. We can even make ethanol from wood—-we’ve been able to do it for 120 years.

The very first motor car that Henry for built in 1892 ran on ethanol. The first Model T introduced in 1908 could be ordered with an adjustable carburator that could be set to run on either gasoline or ethanol.

The first diesel engine that Rudolf Diesel built in 1893 ran on peanut oil. Diesel engines can run on either petroleum or biodiesel(or any mix up to B100, 100% bio)—-with no modification at all. Most farm equipment has diesel engines.

Any internal combustion engine can be converted to run on compressed natural gas, methane, CH4. Methane is both a fossil fuel AND a biofuel—-we can make it low tech, easily and inexpensively out of any type of organic material at all, including sewage and landfills—we’ve been doing it for over 160 years.

——–” If all the petroleum in the world instantly vanished I think there would be a serious effect on the prices of the other things.”———–

If you are one of the 14 million people worldwide that use CNG, it might be awhile before you even notice the petroleum is missing. Although most CNG vehicles are bi-fuel and can run on either petroleum or methane, most drivers prefer to use methane because it is clean(you only need to change oil 30k to 50k miles instead of 3-5k), and costs so much less than petroleum. Although they CAN use petroleum if they need to—-nobody does.

I don’t disagree with you. But petroleum is currently used in fertilizer, agricutlural machinery, transporting all that stuff and making electricity. If there were no petroleum demand for the alternatives would increase. It is not just a matter of what I put into my tank, it is also a matter of what is making all those trucks, trains and airplanes run.

Going off petroleum may be a good idea, but the notion that is going to be easy strikes me as a bit optimistic.